After?
by Jennifer Creyner
Summary: The story of Jodie and Zoey after they are reunited
1. Chapter 1

After...?

**One**

**I.**

It's been years since it happened, years since I've felt Aiden's presence. It hurts every day, no matter how much time has passed and Zoey and the others only help me to control the pain, they could never get rid of it altogether. Sometimes I wish that I'd chosen the other path, chosen to leave life and go Beyond, to where Aiden is and waits for me. For now I have a more difficult task ahead of me. Zoey is different, I can feel it and I need to be here for her, to help her grow and develop the power that sleeps within her soul. I don't know exactly what it is, she doesn't have another soul attached to her like I did but the power I feel from her is something else entirely, I know the fate of the world rests on her shoulders but for now I will protect her from this knowledge and keep her safe from the secrets I have found through my past.

**II.**

Every day that she grows, the power she cannot yet control grows with her. The darkness scares me, bringing me back to the fears I once faced as a child. If Aiden was here, I'm sure he would know how to handle the darkness that sleeps within the power she heralds; instead I am left to quietly reassure her that the monsters and demons she sees at night will not harm her. I tell her it is because she is so brave and they don't want to come near but I know the truth of why they don't attack her at night as they once did to me. They are afraid.

**III.**

The sky is growing dark, I feel as though my story is coming to a close and hers is finally beginning, everyone is starting to feel afraid of the future, reports keep coming through on the news about attacks in the streets by 'unknown entities' that prey in the darkness and have no remorse for those they kill.

I knew that they would rebuild it eventually, the condenser that I only just managed to destroy the last time. It's only a matter of time before things go wrong and I can feel that time is approaching more quickly than I would like. The time has come for me to speak to her about all of this, to tell her about my past, about Aiden and about the things that are about to come.

"Zoey, could I have a word?" I feel myself shaking but try to control myself so she doesn't notice.

"What's it about?" Her attention was focussed on the book in front of her.

I looked around her room, she was laying face down with her chin resting on her hands so she could read more comfortably, her legs were swinging backwards and forth in the air behind her as she read silently. Books littered the floor around her, she had been reading for hours now without stopping, "What are you doing?" My curiosity got the better of me.

"If I keep reading, maybe I'll be able to read every book in the house before things get bad," her legs continued to swing back and forth, "that would be nice, then I could remember the stories to try and make myself feel better about all the bad things happening."

Kneeling beside her I picked up a book off the floor, it was a fairy tale about a girl who was locked away in a tower, "What bad things?"

"You know."

"I know?"

"Yes, because you were coming to tell me about all the bad things that have hurt you in the past, all the things that make you cry at night and scream into your pillow when you think no one is watching you. You are going to tell me about them and then you are going to tell me that something bad is going to happen in the future." She didn't move her eyes away from the book she was reading, only her legs kept moving, swinging back and forth beside me, "You are afraid."

Placing the book back on the floor I looked at her, "You're right, as ever. Although I didn't know you were watching me so closely." I paused and she stopped moving, "You already know about my past, and my present. It's the future that you need to know, this 'bad thing' is going to come and there's nothing we can do to stop it from happening."

"It's going to happen soon but I don't want it to, my mum," she closed her book and looked at me, eyes filled with tears, "everyone I know is going to hurt and even though you and I both know, there's nothing we can do about it, is there?"

I wrapped my arms around her, hugging her tightly, "I'm still going to be here. Remember that." I pulled away from her, putting my hands back down onto my knees, "Out there, somewhere is a world that we all return to when we die, our souls don't just disappear, they go to a place that we call the Infraworld. It isn't only the dead that live there though, things that seem to be made of pure evil live there too and they delight in taking the souls of those that are not yet dead and steeling them away.

"All these attacks, they are all related to this place. In the past I was part of what created a machine that could tear open cracks in our reality, cracks that led to the Infraworld and let through both the souls of the dead and creatures that would pointlessly kill all those around them. After helping the Pentagon to be the only ones in control of that world, I realised that I didn't want to be a part of their experiments any longer."

"What did you do?" Zoey had moved into a sitting position, her legs crossed and her eyes wide as she listened to the tale I had to tell.

"When I had decided that I was going to leave, they tried to stop me like they did with my mother, they tried to take away my life without killing me. If it wasn't for Ryan and Cole, I would have slipped away and I wouldn't be here right now. Aiden found them and led them to me, he saved my life so many times, I've lost count of how many times." My voice caught in my throat and I forced back a sob, "He's gone now, Ryan and Cole are still here but Aiden... I can never feel him ever again, never be annoyed by his constant presence, I'll never feel the happiness I felt when he tried to cheer me up and make me laugh. Aiden was the one who linked me to the Infraworld and because of him my life was turned into a battleground."

"Aiden?"

My tears fell freely as I thought back to the days when he was with me, "I have never blamed him for my life, ever since I was born I was being watched by those that wanted me only for my abilities. I just didn't realise it until it was too late. Now they have managed to build another condenser and this time I don't think there is anything I can do to stop the Infraworld from trying to take over the world of the living."

Zoey touched my arm gently, my fists were clenched so tightly that my nails had drawn blood in the palms of my hands, "Why are you telling me this? Why can I see those monsters and why are they afraid of me? If they know then why don't they do something to stop it from happening? Why are they doing it in the first place?" Her eyes were wide, no longer with interest but with terror, she shivered violently and her skin was clammy and cold to the touch, "Jodie, what is going to happen?"

"The world is going to end. Everyone is going to die."

She burst into tears, Stan and Tuesday rushed into the room, "What's happened? What's wrong?"

Tuesday picked up her daughter and brought her into her warm and loving arms, "It's okay, it's all okay, I'm here."

I stood, heading towards the door before Stan gripped my arm and looked into my eyes, "Jodie, is everything okay? You've seemed so down lately, what have you two been talking about?"

He could see the tears streaming down my cheeks, "My past, I told her of my past and how it's going to affect the future." Turning my head to face Zoey and Tuesday, I watched them hold each other so tightly, "You are going to be the one Zoey, you're the future and your strength will be the thing to save everyone. I am going to be with you, you will never be alone."


	2. Chapter 2

After...?

**Two**

**I.**

This is the time, I watch the news carefully for any signs that the situation is getting worse out there. We've all been put under house arrest for days now, everyone in the city. Every so often a runner comes by with packs of food to help keep us going but I believe we're all beginning to get a little restless, considering that it all started with a large explosion. Not all of us heard it, we weren't close enough but it was shown on the news, the news crews ended up having to run for their lives as entities escaped the building in their masses and proceeded to attack anything and everything in their path.

We're all afraid now, Tuesday and Stan haven't been talking to me properly since I made Zoey cry but even in their silence I know they are fearful of what is going to happen.

**II.**

They can't be stopped now, it's all happening at once and the world feels wrong, as though it no longer belongs to us any more. We were sitting down, all of us, watching the television for any news. The runner had told us to keep an eye on the box because something was finally going to be done, I had greeted him this time and realised he was wearing a portable generator, "That won't help you for long." I told him.

He looked at me, a brief glimpse of recognition on his face, "It's the only thing we've got."

The news flickered onto the screen, on time as usual only this time something was different, something was off about the people on the screen. There was a man and a woman, at first they were talking in hushed whispers before they realised they were on air; they whipped round to face the cameras looking pale and scared.

"Today, it was the last attempt to stop the random and brutal attacks that have been going on throughout the country since the explosion a week and a half ago. All of you will be wondering what has gone on but even now I'm not permitted any access to that information, all I can tell you is the ones doing the attacking are not people. In fact they are a completely unknown entity that we have never faced before, they are fast, can go through walls and they will kill everyone they see.

"You'll be waiting to know if this last attempt to get rid of these things has worked." The presenter paused, staring down at the sheet of paper in his hands in a defeatist manner.

The woman interrupted, "It hasn't worked. The president has declared that the house arrest is no longer in effect from now and that, if you can, get yourselves out of the immediate vicinity as quickly as possible."

Stan was staring at the screen, "What's going on?" He didn't believe it.

I looked at them, all of them, "We need to get out of here now, believe me when I tell you that these things, you can't mess with them. They don't care about normal weapons and they certainly don't care about life. They will drag you Beyond, where they and all the other souls of the dead belong."

Before I knew it, we were running, packing things in rucksacks and dressing in thick, warm clothes. It was then that it happened, the explosion came from the side of us, the apartment that had been next to this one. What had they done? I didn't waste any time, I grabbed the bag, dashed around the house to find the others and we all stole away into the street, away from the fire. Stan looked at me, "Deja vu?"

"Yeah."

Then we ran.


	3. Chapter 3

After...?

**Three**

**I.**

I can't tell you what's happened because I don't know, for the first time in my life I feel like I really am no longer in control of my own story. Nobody has asked me to save them, no one has come to me for help, the CIA are no where to be seen, all there is is terror the instinct to run.

Tuesday and Stan are holding onto Zoey, telling her over and over that everything 'is going to be okay'. I wish I could say the same, wish I could turn to everyone and tell them that we are all going to survive this but I can't, all I can do is sit here and watch as they rock back and forth together.

We are in the subway I think, hiding out with a group of other people that we don't know, the smell of stagnant sweat and fear mixes in the air around us, it's hard to get used to. Already dirt smears the once white walls, families that survived the first slaughter cling together in packs, hiding themselves from the strangers around them. Everywhere I look people are whispering to each other, telling their own stories, I don't see much point in telling my story of what has happened, it's too long to tell.

**II.**

Zoey and I have some time to ourselves, her eyes are wide with fear and I carefully wipe the dirt and grime off her cheeks. We are talking in low whispers, just in case anyone else is listening in, "What can you see happening?"

"Not much, we just hide out here for a while, they won't notice us until they actually start looking."

I shake my head, "I guess there is a large amount of people to choose from, before the condenser was only ever contained in one building. I'm worried about Tuesday and Stan."

Droplets of water started to form underneath her eyes, she let her hair fall forward over her face so no one would notice, "I'm worried to, I can see them..." She paused, carefully looking back to check up on them, "I see them die, both of them, I don't know what's happened to the others either, I can't see them anywhere."

"I don't know, I can't say for sure if they survived that first wave or not, everyone was panicking. I'm sorry." I said this as though it was my fault, even though I know it wasn't. I guess the sombre atmosphere is starting to get to me.

"We can only try and survive as long as we can," she looked at me, right into my eyes as though she was trying to stare right into my soul, "do you think they can do anything about it? Do you think the people who made this happen can stop it?"

My head shook before I even knew how to answer, "It was me the last two times, or at least the last two time that I know of. They were never very good at dealing with the things that came from the Infraworld."

**III.**

Night time. Or at least I think it is, it's hard to tell in this dingy subway platform we've made a temporary home out of, it's always dark in here and to try to prevent the monsters from attacking they decided to barricade the entrance. I know they can travel through the walls but I haven't mentioned this, it would only cause the people down here to panic and that would make the situation worse, make us more noticeable. It's better to keep them all as calm as possible.

Zoey and Tuesday are sleeping, they're leaning on the wall with loose jackets to cover them. Stan is stood next to me, watching me closely, "You knew this would happen, didn't you?"

"Even if I did, it wouldn't have changed anything."

"Do you think we can find one of those runners?" He changed the subject quickly, turning his head towards the entrance.

"Why?"

He shrugged, "They were wearing those force field things, they always looked strange. I wondered if that force field thing would help us."

I looked at him, "There's no way of knowing where to look. They would be useful though and it's called a portable condenser. They work to a point, to keep those things away."

Shrugging again, he turned away from me and headed back towards Tuesday and Zoey, "Just an idea."

It wasn't until he'd sat himself beside the other two that I took my eyes off of him. Finding one of those runners would be very useful and not only for getting a portable condenser; they would know where the building that the main condenser was built, they would also know where more portable condensers are kept.

**IV.**

I'm peeling away at layers of the barricade, most of the people are asleep and the ones who aren't are just staring at me like I am insane, perhaps I am. Aiden used to be here to protect me from those things, now I have nothing but myself, what kind of protection is that. A space, large enough for just one person to sneak out and it looks like it's light enough outside for me to see without a torch.

Before I get the chance to crawl through, someone pulls at me from behind, making me turn. It's a boy, must be about sixteen or seventeen years old; his face is coated in mud and dirt, it looks like he must have been pulled out of some wreckage and dragged along. His hand grips the back of my shirt tightly and I slowly pull his fingers away, "You can't come with me, it's too dangerous."

"Find my mum and dad."

An orphan? It almost bring tears to my eyes as a tear away and crawl through the hole towards the new world outside.


	4. Chapter 4

After...?

**Four**

**I.**

The moon is so bright that it's almost blinding, the starry night sky lulls me into the false belief that everything could still return to the way things used to be. The only difference now is that when I look around me all I see is destruction and chaos. I remember when we were running, desperately trying to find somewhere to hide, every so often we tripped over fallen debris from buildings that had crumbled, there were burning cars, people screaming and shouting for help. It's quiet now, the streets are dark and silent, abandoned cars litter the once clean roads, most of the houses and flats have fallen down after being mercilessly attacked by entities that flooded out of the Infraworld.

Life and death mingle together in the place and I can feel the evil all around me, I hug my arms around myself as I walk, keeping my chest warm in the bitter night cold. How I wish that someone was here with me, this moment reminds me too much of the past when I was sent in to help them switch off a condenser that had malfunctioned. Aiden was there with me then, now it is so lonely without him.

I hear something snap behind me and quickly duck for cover behind the charred bodywork of what once was a van of some kind, it only takes me a few moments to hide but it could already be too late, I could have been spotted.

"Jodie?" A familiar voice, too familiar.

Carefully I made my way out of cover and peaked round to see if my fears were justified; standing a few feet away was a terrified young girl, a terrified young girl I recognised, "Zoey? What are you doing out here?"

She ran towards me and hugged me tightly, "I saw you sneak out, I thought you said you weren't going to leave me alone."

**II.**

We had been arguing for a while before she finally convinced me that it was best if she came too. I had told her why and she agreed with me straight away that it was a good idea. Now we were walking together, checking every other building that was still structurally sound to see if we could find a runner that was hiding out somewhere. In the worst case scenario we would find a carcass that we couldn't steal the portable condenser from, then we could have a better check on some of the more infested areas.

Apart from a few entities flying overhead it was reasonably quiet, they must have claimed down after the initial flood and mass murder of innocent victims. Every so often we'd come across a body, ice cold to the touch with eyes wide open and staring. I kept Zoey away from them, guiding her away gently so she couldn't see, I know she knows what I'm trying to keep her away from but she doesn't complain that I'm treating her like a child, she just goes quiet and looks up at the night sky.

**III.**

It feels like we've been searching for hours with no luck and not even a glimmer of hope that we'd find anything useful, Zoey is getting tired and starting to drag behind and even I'm finding it difficult to keep my eyes open. I look back at her, "Let's go back and call it a night, we're both getting tired and it might be worth leaving it till it gets a bit lighter outside."

She nodded in agreement and we trudged back to the subway avoiding the occasional entity that flew down into the streets to have a good rummage on a stray body lying in a gutter somewhere. As we got closer though I could feel Zoey tense beside me but I ignored it, thinking she was just getting a bit cautious because the sun was starting to sneak over the horizon. It wasn't until we were close enough to see the entrance to the subway tunnel that I could tell something was wrong, the barricade was missing from the entrance, instead it was scattered all over the street.

We started to run forwards, Zoey was crying and as we got even closer we could see the bodies. It looked as though they had been trying to run from something, something big. I grabbed Zoey and pulled her down as an entity the size of a small house burst from the ground just in front of us.


	5. Chapter 5

After...?

Five

I.

My head bounced off the ground as we fell, the next few minutes were all a blur of motion and noise until I finally seemed to regain some kind of consciousness amongst all the chaos. Zoey is pulling at my arm, "Get up, Jodie we've got to run! Now!"

I look around, waiting for the entity to come back, readying myself for the battle I am sure is going to happen any time soon. It surprises me when nothing turns up, could the entity have run off? I glance at Zoey and for the first time I see it, I see what they are so afraid of, what makes her different. She looks directly at me, noticing the fear on my face, "Jodie, help me find them, where's my mum?"

For the first time in a long time I am so afraid that I can barely move, "Sorry, I must have hit my head pretty badly," I have to hide the fear away from her, "we can't stay to look, we have to get out of here."

"But I can't see her, what if she didn't get out before those things arrived?" Hot tears run down her cheeks but she knows I'm right, that thing could come back at any moment, "Promise me that we'll look for them, for my mum, Stan and for anyone else that was down there."

I look at her, behind the tears and the fear is a fury and passion that I've never seen in her before. I nod my head quickly and pull myself away from the hard tarmac into a standing position, my head throbs painfully and just trying to keep myself moving is agonising but together we make it away from the wreckage of our safe haven.

II.

I wake to find myself in an abandoned building, the walls are crumbling away around me and it takes me a few minutes to try and remember what happened back at the subway. I tentatively feel my limbs, making sure they're all intact, apart from a few bruises I'm okay but the same can't be said for my head. The spot where I hit is bloody and sore, there is a piercing pain routing its way through my skull and I can't seem to focus on anything in particular, "Zoey?"

She is sitting next to the window, her face is pale and blotchy, her cheeks wet with fresh tears, "I'm here." Sobs break her words, almost as though it is agony for her just to speak, "I tried to stop that bleeding but it was pretty stubborn. My mum and Stan are gone."

It takes all my energy to just crawl up next to her and by the time I reach her my head feels like it's going to explode, "You don't know that for a fact, they might have realised we'd snuck out and tried to follow us, they might not have been there for the attack."

"Stop it," Zoey snaps her head around to look at me, "We both know they were in there, we both know that they're dead. Stop trying to give me hope when I already know that there is none left. I can feel that they're no longer here, I can see what happened to them but I don't know why, why can I see what happened but there's no way for me to change it? What's the point of having a gift like this, I want to have hope, I want to believe you."

III.

It's time for us to leave this place again, for a few days we have been staying in the run down building I found myself in after we witnessed the attack on the subway, mostly we stayed there because my injuries wouldn't allow me to move very far but the few bits and pieces we managed to scrounge from the cupboards has finally run out. Zoey is shaken up and terrified, her gift brings her horrors that I can only imagine and after losing Tuesday and Stan in the attack she seems to have no control over her emotions.

We walk for a few hours, still keeping an eye out for anything useful that we could salvage from the wreckage, when we reach a small corner shop I nod to Zoey and we step inside cautiously. Even though my body aches, I pull away large pieces of debris until I find what I'm looking for, food of all types spills over the floor and we both hastily pick up as much as we can carry. I pick up a bag from another part of the store and we fill that too, "There's some drink bottles over here Jodie, pass me another bag and I'll carry some of these."

I chuck her the bag, once we collected everything we could we walk back onto the street, carefully checking to see if there are any more entities flying around, "Let's keep moving, we'll find somewhere safe to hide for the night and then get something to eat."


	6. Chapter 6

**After...? Six**

**I.**

We've been walking for days, the odd straggler has passed us by barely glancing in our direction, most have been driven mad by what has happened here and I can't say that I blame them. My head has started to make its long and slow recovery, the cut becoming smaller as time passes by and the throbbing is now barely noticeable. Zoey is still shaken from the loss of her mum and Stan, I don't know if it for this reason that her gift has started to become stronger, she can barely keep a hold of herself nowadays.

Zoey is walking just in front of me, focussing on the road ahead as though nothing else matters, I look at her intently, wondering whether what I saw when the subway was being destroyed was just a result of my accident. Just glancing at her or looking at her normally you wouldn't notice it but staring at her like this I could just about see the ominous glow around her frame. After I had fallen I had seen this glow but it was much stronger and much more obvious; the thing that had scared me about it was that the glow was more like a white cloud floating around her and every so often a figure appeared made out of the glowing cloud. This figure was not human, in fact I couldn't tell what it was but even when it wasn't obviously there I could feel an extra pair of eyes watching my every move.

I stop walking, "Let's take a break here, may as well get some lunch." I pull the bag off my shoulders and sit on a nearby car before dumping it on the ground beside me. Zoey stops moving but doesn't turn to look at me, "Come on, you've got to eat something, you haven't eaten anything since yesterday and we've been walking for quite a while."

"Here." Her voice was quiet, barely above a whisper.

"What?"

"A runner has passed through here, he died in that building over there," she nodded over to her left, "he might have had a portable condenser on him."

She already started for the building before I even had a chance to stand up, "Wait, we don't know if it's safe in there, these places are crawling with entities during the day time. We need to think carefully about this."

"There is going to be no time that we're completely safe Jodie, wasn't it you that said this would be a good idea in the first place? We need those condensers, they provide at least some protection against those things and we're heading to the place where they gather." She faltered, her expression changing, "We have got to go to the portal and find a way to shut it down. We are the only ones who can."

I thought I was the one who was supposed to help and guide her, I was the one who was supposed to be there for her but here I am doing the complete opposite. Letting her lead the way through these streets, becoming afraid of her and not even being there for her when she needs me the most, I suddenly feel the shame of everything I have been doing up until this point, "I'm sorry." Her expression changed again, this time confusion, so I continued, "I'm supposed to guide and help you but since the subway burned I've only been thinking of myself and letting you lead the way. You have a gift, a power that I could never understand, I once had an entity attached to me and I know that you are different but I still should be trying to help you get a control of what you can do, I should be trying to help you understand why you have this gift. We are going to go towards the place they dwell, the portal that those government jerks decided to open up and we will try our best to shut it down but right now I want to help you."

"Then you can start by coming with me and getting that portable condenser, we will both learn on the way. You forget how much I've had to grow up Jodie, how much has been taken away."


	7. Chapter 7

**After...? Seven**

**I.**

We entered the building, this time with me upfront and Zoey tagging along behind me. I couldn't let her get hurt, not after everything that has happened. She is holding onto my bag, every so often I can feel her tugging on it behind me, "You doing okay back there?"

"Yeah, I think it's up ahead but they're here too. I can feel them all around, they haven't noticed us yet." Her voice was shaking, she had been so confident earlier but I could tell now that she was just trying to be strong, "You okay going up front?"

I nod my head, there was something flitting around in the shadows up ahead, it hadn't noticed us but we were getting close now and I ducked behind an overturned table to the left of the corridor. Zoey quickly pushed herself into my side and looked at the table, no, she was looking through the table, her eyes scanned the corridor, checking out what was waiting for us. I peeked over the table edge, I could just make out a carcass on the floor underneath the circling entity, it was probably that which was keeping the thing interested. It is so dark in here I can't tell if that is the body we're looking for and I'm too afraid to get too close, I look at Zoey for help, "Can you see anything?"

"It's watching that man, that man is the one that we need. I can see him running down this corridor with the condenser on but it's malfunctioning and keeps turning itself off. He's terrified because he knows they are behind him but he can't see a way out, it's too dark and he already dropped his torch. It's coming for him, chasing him like it's a game, there's no way out..."

"Stop. I don't want you to see those things, try shutting off your mind. Just think of a place where you were happy and shut out everything else, nothing else matters but this happy place." I hug her shoulders and start humming a random tune that I just picked out of my head.

She cries for a little while then stops and looks directly at me, "Lost Cause?"

I hadn't realised that I was humming the song I had chosen to sing on a borrowed guitar back when the world was normal. Back when I first met Stan and Tuesday, thinking about it almost made me cry but for Zoey's sake I held it in, "Yeah, it was a song I sung when I first met your mum. I was trying to raise some money so we could eat. You feeling better?"

She looks back at the table then back at me, "Yeah, we need to move soon though, more are on their way and if they reach here before we grab that condenser we're gonna have a lot of trouble on our hands. You ready for this?"

"Definitely."

With me leading the way, we moved around the table and headed for the corpse up ahead, the entity saw us almost instantly and lashed out, it struck me on the side and sent me flying into the wall. With a loud thud I smashed against the plaster and slid down it to the floor, my head throbbed again and I quickly looked to see how Zoey was faring. She was standing face to face with it and it seemed almost frozen with fear as it watched her, every time she moved it moved with her, waiting for a sudden change in the atmosphere.

"Zoey, run for it! Grab the condenser!"

She lunged forward and the entity flipped, trying to grab at her with it's dark tentacles. I jumped to my feet and made a grab for it but it was too late.

And then it happened.


	8. Chapter 8

After...?

**Eight**

The tentacles whipped at Zoey as she dived for the carcass, they narrowly avoided her but I could tell she was scared. I need to help her but my body is aching and sore and my head pounded like it had been split in two. She was almost there, through the haze I can tell she's almost there but the entity is getting angrier now. She's screaming, I can't tell what's going on. I need to move. That is the only thing I need to do right now. MOVE!

I lunged forward, my body screaming at me to stay still but I'm too late anyway, Zoey is crying on the floor, the entity is flying over her but there's something between them. The glowing, white cloud had a more solid form now and something was definitely moving around her, it doesn't look human but it's protecting her from the entity above her. The entity backs off and leaves us both alone.

Zoey's power is looking at me, it's form keeps changing, moving to become something else every few seconds, it has large black eyes and they're staring right into me. I collapse just before Zoey and it doesn't even look like she's noticed the big glowing thing sticking out of her back, it looks like it's trying to figure out whether I'm a threat or not but after just a few moments of staring it disappears.

"It's right there, we have to get it now. I'm sorry, I can't move right now, Zoey." My voice sounds rough, I think I might have broken something.

Zoey is uncurling herself now and looking at me, she can sense the damage, the pain that I'm feeling but she nods anyway and starts fumbling around with the portable condenser until it comes loose. One good pull and it comes away, luckily with no extra body parts still attached. Now I'm looking closer at it I can see how badly damaged the body is, it's been torn apart and blood splatters the walls all around us. If Aiden was here he could help me with the pain, heal my wounds and protect me from the entities all around us. But he's not here and thinking about him only makes me cry. I wipe my face with my sleeve and force myself into a sitting position on the floor, "We should get out of here, you said that there are others close by?"

She stayed silent and looked at the portable condenser in her hands, she was about to put it on but changed her mind and glanced in my direction, "They're all afraid but it isn't you they're afraid of, it's me. That's why you were afraid of me, wasn't it?"

"I wasn't afraid of you, I was afraid of the power inside you. Just like how everyone used to be afraid of me because of the power I had, because of Aiden. It took me a while to get over it, my head injury didn't help, I couldn't think straight. I'm sorry I judged you, I had no right to judge you after what I've had to go through in life." My body was starting to feel better, the pain dying down, "He would have been able to heal injuries like this, he was always there for me, ever since I was born. A piece of me is still missing, lost without him."

The glowing figure appeared again around Zoey, shimmering in and out of view, still changing that shape, "This is Morwell, he is me, attached to me and part of me."

"So, he's like Aiden?" I reach out to touch it but it recoils away, "Although I can see this one, no one could see Aiden."

She shakes her head at me, "Morwell is not like Aiden, Morwell is something that I created. My imagination come to life, one night I had a dream then the next day Morwell was here, a real thing. He protects me like Aiden protected you but he will always be a part of me, I could even destroy him if I wanted to but that would be like chopping off my own arm."

I didn't understand what was going on, questions tripped over themselves in my head making me feel sore again, "So he is just your imagination? That is part of your power?"

"I can do lots of things, I can speak to the dead and I always see the truth. Then when I dream, sometimes those dreams are still there when I wake up, as though I created them. Morwell has been with me for so long now, he's the only one that I have kept real and every day he grows stronger." Morwell was still looking at me, "I knew you were afraid, I didn't want to show him to you before you realised that he is here to help, that he wouldn't hurt you."

"Zoey, I can't say sorry enough for how I treated you, how afraid I was just because I didn't understand your gift. You are like my little sister." I stood, my legs shaking beneath me.

Morwell is reaching out to me, it's hands are made of white clouds but when it touches me I can feel it's solid shape. A numbing sensation is starting to flood through me and already I start to feel the pain lessen and my strength return, I look at my hands and they're not shaking anymore, "He can heal as well?"

"He just gives you a little bit of energy and you heal yourself." She is standing now, "We need to go, they're starting to swarm in this place, I don't know if they're hoping that they can get through to us by attacking together."


	9. Chapter 9

After…?

**Nine**

By the time we made it back outside onto the street, is was already starting to get dark and the grown up side of Zoey was starting to wear off, "You doing okay? We're almost there, I'm sure that this next one is going to have no entities floating around."

She yawned loudly, I'm still not sure whether using her power drains her own energy but after all the talk in the building after the fight with the entity, she seems to have gone back to her usual self, "Sure, I'll make it."

We come to a building that looks pretty good, all the windows have been shattered and glass litters the floor outside but the doors seem like they're still intact and there don't seem to be any holes in the walls on the exterior at least. I look at Zoey and she nods back at me, giving me the all clear.

Most of the walls are missing on the inside and rubble is piled everywhere, there are clothes strewn across the floors and the only furniture in this place is broken furniture. We delve a little deeper, if we could at least find something to use as a bed, or at least a piece of floor that isn't covered in debris. I'm used to sleeping rough thanks to my training with the CIA but right now I'm worried about Zoey, we've been sleeping on cold floors for a while now and I can tell that the sleepless night are getting to her. She's clinging onto the portable condenser as though her life depends on it and her eyes are red a blotchy, "We'll stay in here for the night, I'll try and find something to cushion the floor, see if there are any blankets in these piles of junk."

Zoey sits on the floor, hugging the condenser to her chest, she doesn't seem to mind the fact that it splattered with blood, "Be quick."

I nod and turn away. Searching through the rooms and what's left of a set of drawers and a wardrobe I manage to find some sheets and a few blankets, I also grab some of the clothes that are all over the place, at least I can use them as something for Zoey to lie on. As I start walking back I hear someone crying, it's coming from somewhere above me so I drop the items I've found somewhere safe and begin looking for a set of stairs or something. There are no stair anymore, what's left of the stairs litters a corridor and there's no way through. Deeper into the building I find a hole in the ceiling just large enough for me to squeeze through, I take a running leap and jump at the wall, kicking off at the last minute and swinging myself round to grab hold of the edge. I pull myself up, bit by bit, and lay staring up at the ceiling for a few moments to get my breath back after crawling through to the next floor.

Up here it's dark, even darker than the floor me and Zoey have chosen to sleep on so I squint my eyes to try and see through the gloom. I can still hear the crying and decide to follow the sound through the empty corridors until I come to a closed door. The noise is definitely coming from in there so I open the door, hoping to see a survivor.


	10. Chapter 10

After…?

**Ten**

The door creaks open in front of me, it's so dark inside I can barely see a meter in front of my face but the crying has suddenly stopped. Whoever it is, they know that I'm here now, I can still hear them breathing, it's loud and raspy which means that I can gain at least some idea as to where they are in the dark room.

I walk into the room, my eyes adjusting to the darkness nicely, I can see the outline of a window somewhere to the side of me, the moonlight forcing it's way in, helping me to see. The snuffly breathing is coming somewhere to the other side of me and I am just starting to see their outline now, "Are you okay? Are you a survivor?"

Silence. I step a little closer, my vision getting better and better, "It's okay, I'm not going to hurt you, I want to help. We can help you."

The figure moves, they're standing a little straighter now but I can still tell that they're hunched, "Come closer, into the light so I can see you. Do you have a name?"

It was almost instantaneous, the change in movement, the figure ran up to me suddenly and violently. I dodged to the side and got a quick glance at the person running towards me, his eyes were pitch black but I couldn't tell if that was because of the lighting in the room. His face was contorted in anger and fear, blood streamed from his mouth and nose and he looked too pale. I twisted round to face him as he rushed past, narrowly missing my shoulder as he went. When he realised that he had missed he lumbered round to look at me and this time I got a better look at him, he would have been handsome if it wasn't for the dried blood all over his face, around his eyes there were black veins which spread across his pale skin. It took me only a few seconds to guess that this guy was dead and that he was possessed by something not human.

He rushes at me again but this time I'm ready for him, stepping in to meet the attack head on. As he reaches me his arms move upwards to grab me but instead I grab him and drag him forward, at the same time I raise my knee to reach his face and the crack as I get in the hit reverberates through the room. It pushes him back but, being dead, the fact that his skull has now caved in doesn't bother him in the slightest and he moves in to try and grab me again. This time I sidestep out of the way, his slow, sluggish movement aiding my dodge away from him, as he passes he tries to turn but I jab an elbow his way, catching his throat before swinging my leg up and kicking him in the chest.

If he were alive, that would have cracked his ribs and he'd be choking on the floor right now but he just stands there, a little stunned for a few moments before swinging his fist my way, it's almost too easy the way I put one arm up to divert his attack before snapping my own fist into his face. More blood sprays everywhere as he collapses in a heap on the floor in front of me, immobilized if not dead for good this time. I step away from him, catching my breath and calming the adrenaline that runs through me like a train on fire, it's been so long since I've had a fight, so long since I've been anywhere near a possessed.


End file.
